Lightning
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Kevin always had his connection to the world and to his father. Through the powers he feared to use. The lightning finally caught up with him.


**A/N: I came up with this during a storm. Kevin was on my brain and I was really, really inspired to write this piece.**

**Disclaimer: Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien are owned by Man Of Action**

* * *

**_Lightning_**

His eyes darted out into the night sky where rain poured down around the porch of the house. The grass was flooded with milky, swirling brown mud, the green blades drowning in it. The flash across the sky reflected in his gaze, only to make his pupils widen with curiosity and intrigue.

Devin had taken him outside and sat him down on the top step of the stairs leading up to the front door. The Plumber took his son and pulled him close so that they sat together beneath the small roof of the porch. "Kevin, look out there," he instructed, eyes soft as he held his son tightly.

The small boy's gaze flickered out into the night of overcast clouds and pounding droplets of moisture coming down from the heavens. He remained silent, watching the beauty of the outside world. It was incredible to know that nature was this strong, whipping winds slicing at his tender skin and stinging his face. The rain was thundering against the small overhang that protected the two Levins, father and son watching the splendor of Mother Nature at work.

Lightning struck the sky, piercing the darkness. An electric glow emanated from it and then there was this static feeling that pulsed through Kevin, making him feel more alive than ever before as that feeling drove straight into his heart, the adrenaline driving everywhere through him. His veins were alive with the power and his mind whirled with this newly found rush. "Daddy," he murmured, eyes suddenly wide with amazement. "Daddy, make it do it again," Kevin begged. He liked feeling it, but not just because it was strong and made him feel like he was on top of the world, but because he felt a strong connection to the universe that always seemed to throw the worst of punishments his way.

His father's face was turned towards the sky, the electricity being thrown through him too, their powers exactly alike. Then a long, loud, content sigh escaped his lips. "Kevin, it's wonderful, isn't it?" Devin sounded like he was in a world of pure bliss, like nothing could rupture this perfect moment. Then he reached down and touched the ground, mud squishing between his pale fingers as short blades of grass were crushed beneath his palm. "Try this now."

Hurrying to put his hand on the ground before the next strike, Kevin did as he was told. The mud felt like chocolate pudding, but he wanted to feel that rush of energy again. Not even sugar could make him feel as amazing as that.

The lightning crashed down against the ground once again.

Through the ground surged thousands of volts of electricity and they bolted right up through Kevin's body, giving him the ultimate rush of adrenaline. It surged through every inch of his skin, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his face turned towards the sky. His vision flashed with the reflection of the strike. Then it all faded, the pulses sinking deeper into the earth.

Immediately, he looked over to his father. Devin was slow to pull out of the trance that lightning sent them both into. "That is what our powers do. When electricity is thrown into us, we can do nothing but drink it in, Kevin. It's the beauty of being an Osmosian. We _absorb_."

This was new. This was something fun. This made him feel like he was absolutely invincible. Power was still racing behind his small five-year-old frame. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced.

Devin continued further. "Electricity flows through us because we conduct it. We eat it. We enjoy it. We live for it, my son." He ruffled the small boy's hair before kissing his son's forehead. "Don't forget that we are not like others."

With just a nod, Kevin waited for another strike. This was the most incredible thing he had ever felt. There were no words to describe it.

"Let's go back inside." Devin's hands closed around Kevin's torso and picked him up. "Too much of that power brings pain and suffering. Keep that in mind." He carried his son over one shoulder as Kevin giggled from the weightless feeling. Then his tiny arms curled around his father's neck.

Mrs. Levin looked out the window. Her boys were enjoying themselves. That was all she really wanted because those two meant the world to her. And now they were part of the world.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Kevin perched himself on the bottom step, his father right beside him. Now eight years old, he had part of the powers under control. He could take the blue electricity from his palms and project it outwards, towards others and towards solid objects that could conduct it. Absorbing it was still strongest during storms when lightning and charges of electricity flooded the ground as if a dam had burst.

"Tonight's supposed to be a big one," muttered Devin, knowing exactly what his son was anticipating. "Lots of charges in the air tonight."

The static was all around them, enveloping their senses in the pleasure of being surrounded with power. It was like being a dog with a bone being held right under its nose but a muzzle covering its mouth, only allowing the dribbles of drool to slip out. "Can't wait," Kevin breathed, hand touching the ground to feel the short, calm pulsations of electrons, neutrons, and protons flowing beneath the grass and through the conducting mud.

There was a short flash in the distance and the weak waves of shocking power flowed to the fingertips of the two who drank it in desperately. Storms were rare in his small town positioned near a desert. So very rare…

Both dark-eyed, ebony-haired face turned to the sky. A moan of ecstasy escaped Devin while Kevin just sat there in his muted silence, this incredible feeling still new to him. The beginning had only been two years ago and he had only felt it seven or eight times since then. Storms were rare in for those two. They had to drink in the power while they could. It was refreshing for their systems.

It faded quickly, still distant.

Kevin found himself gasping for air while Devin shrugged off the energy, letting it gush through his veins like a thickening poison. It was like the boy's throat was closing in, the short waves not enough to quench his thirst.

"You good?" asked his father, worried over his son's powers not being developed enough to withstand tonight's storm. This was supposedly going to be the most intense one in the history of their hometown. This was what they both wanted. It was what Devin needed. His powers were fueled by this and sucking the strength from appliances and outlets.

"Yeah," replied Kevin, still sounding greatly out of breath. He was panting hard.

"No, you're not." Devin took Kevin's hand and peeled it from the mud laced blades of grass right as the next flash struck the sky with the strongest force either of them had ever felt. And as the thunder resonated, the ground shook the house. "You're going inside. This is too strong for you to deal with yet."

The boy jerked his hand away from his father, out of his grip. "You made me miss that one on purpose!" whined Kevin as his body language became defensive, voice angry and taking on a whining tone.

There was a silence as Devin stared at his son in shock. This was what had happened to him when he was young. He had just craved the rush of electricity and power and the strength it made him feel. That was what every young child craved: the feeling of being a hero. Being what everyone else couldn't be. Full of power and strength and hope and energy that could never die when it was surging through every vein in the history of anatomy. "Kevin, you need to know something. You can only take half of the power that I can. That's why you can't remain out here too long. I could drink this in all night, but with your age and your weakness and uncontrollability of this, you could kill yourself and about half of the desert. Do you really want that?"

There was slight breathing from Kevin, his body aching and painful. "Okay," he sighed, the energy draining from him as he was finally able to take it. "Okay, Dad."

"Think you can last a little longer?" asked Devin softly, putting a hand on his son's shoulder as his other hand planted itself firmly against the mud. "Tonight's going to be a really good one." His eyes twinkled as he knew his son's pride was wounded, but his heart was mended from the torture of addiction by the love that only a father could give.

Kevin nodded. He let the mud ooze between his fingers. Connected once more.

Piercing the sky was another strike of the cold electricity. The thunder rang out clear and true moments later as both Osmosians were letting the volts settle into their systems as they recharged.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

"KEVIN!" came Devin's cry as his son fell off the step and into the grass.

Another strike of the lightning stabbed the star-filled, cloud-covered night.

The small boy jolted, quaking, shaking, body being fried from the massive charges that were being thrown into him faster than anyone could ever imagine. He wasn't strong enough to take the overexposure. It was too fast. Too much. An overdose. An insane amount of what he didn't really need to stay alive.

Devin pressed his hand to Kevin's chest, making him a conductor instead of just straight up absorbing all that energy. He drank in the power, stealing it from his son to keep the small boy alive. He loved his son more than anything and even if it meant overdosing himself, he'd do anything to keep Kevin.

As the power faded, Devin felt his strength on an overload. He gingerly curled his arms around his son, glad that his wife hadn't been home to see that. The man pushed his son's dark hair from his closed eyes. "Kevin, wake up. You fell. Everything's going to be alright now."

Of course, the Osmosian had no idea if his small half-human son would make it. The power from that was enough to fill him for a few months. Kevin didn't even need any of it and yet he still fed like it was his life source.

He didn't stir. His chest was hardly rising and falling as air was pumped in and out, in and out.

"Kevin?" came Devin's desperate voice. His son was now hardly breathing, the static electricity still jumping from his palm back into the ground. "Kevin?" He shook the boy's shoulders as his son's chest froze.

There were sudden spluttering coughs and Kevin bolted upright, hair on the back of his neck standing on end. His breathing was still ragged and slow as if his airways were clogged, but he was awake and that was all Devin needed to let the tears spill from his eyes and to clutch his son tightly to his chest. "Kevin," he sobbed. "Don't ever scare me like that again. Please, Kevin. Just be careful."

More strangled choking came. "Dad," came a tiny voice, still gasping for air.

"Quiet, baby," hushed his father. He held his son as only a father could. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm-" More coughing came. His small frame was racked with his breathing troubles. "I'm fine." Defense had taken over his thoughts and actions. "I'll be alright."

Devin could only let the tears slip free as another slice of lightning drove through the heart of the clouds, directly down into the ground to electrify the air once more.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Kevin wasn't sure how he would take this. The rain poured down around outside as he knew he wouldn't be sitting out in the lightning tonight with his father. The last time they had been out there was exactly that. Their last.

Alone. Solitude. It would all come naturally after a while. Being out on that porch would be just as good as sitting inside sticking his finger in a light socket. Lightning was more natural and more of a comfort from being pure and unaltered by step-up and step-down transformers. Pure and strong.

Now he just wanted to sit in the rain as the lightning crashed around him. He could only feel the static energy in the air, his fingers not in contact with the ground. No one was there anymore to control an overload if one occurred for him. If he began to charge now, he had no idea when to quit or if to quit at all. Maybe dying now meant nothing to him. Charging was life. Enjoying that high was life.

Being left to fend for himself was the end of the world. He didn't know how or when to cut it out. He just wanted that buzz. Kevin didn't want to be alone. He wanted to learn. He wanted to feel his father's hand against his once again, but no. Not anymore. Not ever again.

Pain ebbed away at Kevin as he sat in the center of the cement sidewalk. It was cold and dark outside. Jabbing the sky was more strikes of the surging electrons. Kevin felt nothing as light illuminated the clouds. The darkness faded away.

But it still lingered in his heart. Devin was dead. Devin was the only one who understood Kevin. Devin was the only one who cared about Kevin. Now that his father was gone, now that they were separated, now that the end of the world was going down for Kevin Ethan Levin, he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

That strike crashed again and thunder shook the Earth as Kevin's soul was shattered. Forever, he would sit alone on that porch, staring out into the night, watching the electricity flood his senses, but never touching it. That high was now gone for him. He could never touch the ground again during a storm. Not without having to worry about overloading and dying of too much power.

He would be isolated from then on. No friends would keep in touch. No one could ever understand his pain. No one would ever know how deprived he had suddenly become. And no one would ever know how weak he was without those pulses and surges that kept him alive.

Ebony hair fell around his face, clinging to it in a way it could only when wet. His sodden shirt was dripping with moisture and it stuck to his skin. His eyelashes dripped the drops from the sky into his eyes.

He always knew it was better to cry in the rain. That way no one could see the tears.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Silence was all that followed him. Maybe not all. The static floated down from the clouds in the smog filled sky. New York City was harsh. The streets always made him touchy. He was used to the kind of place where everybody knows your name. Now he knew no one and no one knew him.

For the strangest reasons, this comforted him. He could never grow close to anyone this way. It made him stronger and weaker in entirely different ways.

Checking over his shoulder, Kevin could feel the tangible lightning crashing through the clouds behind skyscrapers. His eyes couldn't detect any of the illumination that was usually given off though. He was less connected that way. The cement was a nonconductor. The small raven-haired boy was grateful for that. In a city of concrete, Kevin couldn't absorb anything. There was no grass. No squishing mud. No powerful charges bolting through Earth.

Kevin didn't want that buzz unless it was worth it. He wanted the energy that raced through his blood and that surged beneath his skin. This small nine-year-old boy was amazed how much metal was there, but how the power travelled through nothing.

Lightning pierced the night as Kevin ducked under a bridge for the night, puddles formed at his feet. His socks were soaked so badly that even his skin was drenched in moisture that made him feel like he had been wading in a lake all day. His shoes had been waterlogged all day. He'd been walking for hours. New York was a big city. A bridge was safety. It was his shelter. It was his home. For now at least.

His body ached with the craving for more of that power. He hadn't felt it in almost six months now. There was an extent when he wondered if he fed off of it just as much as his father did. And maybe, just maybe, this was his life source too. He felt that he craved it and needed it and wanted it so badly that it left a sour taste on his tongue, but there was nothing that would get him to stand again once he fell into the crater underneath the bridge. His small body sank into the wall and cold, icy ground. Shelter. Home. Misery.

The ground shook. The lightning crashed. The homeland was gone. New York was all he had left. Bridges. Subways. Hiding. Crouching. Waiting.

Misery.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

That Ben Tennyson… Kevin looked down at his mutilated body. Too many arms to control. His body felt overgrown, nothing like his own. The tail was strange. He felt it, but couldn't muster the fact that it was actually there. Kevin was in utter shock for part of it, but anger fueled him. He was so furious. There was too much to deal with at this moment. Pain had taken over his every thought and every movement.

Rain stormed around outside.

His gaze trailed upward. The droplets that were unleashed from above hit his eyes and he could no longer feel that static buzz. It was nonexistent. There was only the rush of electricity streaking through the sky. Yet he felt none of it.

That last connection. That last touch and feel. Those moments outside. Those times in the rain. The mud squished between his fingers. His hair plastered to his face. The power surging through him. It was all gone. Each last barely breathing, scarcely living memory of his deceased father was lost. That connection to the world was finally severed.

A vicious, fighting roar escaped Kevin Ethan Levin.

He was lost now. He was alone now. He was sick of life and sick of living as a monster. He was a creature no one could love. His father had never suffered this. Kevin doubted that anyone had ever suffered this.

And now he was this massive lethal creature, ready to kill anything within five feet.

Scorching the wall with a Heatblast attack, Kevin knew he was doomed to live like this forever. Connection detached. Detached from the world. The world against him. Everyone against him.

No one could love a monster.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

He found himself mutating once more. The Null Void had changed him and maybe karma was finally releasing its cruel gripping claws that had closed around his throat and turned him into this creature.

His arms were sucked into his fragile torso. It didn't seem like it'd take the extra flesh and muscle, but it just vanished into thin air.

A scream ripped through the night. His fifteen-year-old body still shriveled further.

His toned legs shrank to reveal bare legs covering only down to his knees. There was a small amount of pain as he toppled over, crashing to the ground.

But he wouldn't cry. Kevin wouldn't let those tears fall. He was still a monster. He was still miserable. He wouldn't let it show. New York had toughened him up for the life he was meant to lead. The Null Void had only enforced everything.

The first thing he had hoped to feel from that misery and long-lasting pain had been the static of the air or the crash of lightning around him, fueling his body. He needed to be refreshed. He wanted a slight overload. He needed a buzz. He needed some of nature's precious electricity to make him feel alive again after near death plenty of times.

Storms never came to the Null Void.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

One massive leap carried him through the small opening in the dimension. A rip in the fabric of time. Nothing left to keep him from going back to Earth, out of the Null Void. He was free. He could disappear. He could vanish from the life he'd been living and start anew.

Too much was going his way. Crime was working out on his behalf. He knew that being part of illegal dealing offered too much money to refuse.

Kevin dropped to the grass and the buzz was overwhelming. After leaving it for four whole years, he knew that he needed a good charge up. The Omnitrix's feedback had finally faded because the power, no matter how strong, had died without the sucking of power to keep him charged up. He was dead without power. Somehow, he'd survived long enough to keep moving and breathing, heart still beating even when he wanted it to stop forever.

Tingles hit his palm as the blue lightning struck out for the first time in a while as he charged up to keep his life source.

The shock made him release a scream and drop to his knees, falling on concrete again. He needed concrete. It kept him safe. It was his savior. It was the only thing to stop his overload and to keep him from dying right then and there. But his death would've been swift. Just that thought kept Kevin from dropping himself down into the cold blades of grass again.

He wasn't ready for death yet. There was still time to turn around.

His charging was finished with a moan from the joy of being back again. Back on Earth. Back to his storms. Back with the pouring rain. Back with his lightning.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

There was a moment of surprise as Gwen looked out her window to see Kevin standing on the sidewalk outside her house in the pouring rain. He just stood there, as still as the stone he was made of. His obsidian eyes were closed, but his face was turned upward into the rain. She could see the droplets falling from his shaking frame.

Shaking? Gwen couldn't believe what she was seeing. Kevin was just standing there in the rain, quivering like he actually felt the cold. There was no way. Not through that rock solid armor that covered his skin and bones. There was no way he could even feel the rain.

But somewhere within his being, the redhead could sense how badly he wanted to feel the rain. Just as much as she wanted to be sitting out on her roof and letting it wash away all her fears and worries.

"Kevin," she called down softly, hoping not to wake her parents. "What are you doing?"

He hadn't even seemed to hear her. It was like the entire world was tuned out and only the rhythm of rain was present for him to listen to.

"Kevin!" the girl said again, a bit more fiercely this time.

Lightning crashed and Kevin seemed to shake even more, the cravings only growing stronger with every lashing of the stuff. He panted, wanting to feel the rain piercing his normal skin like a thousand tiny bullets. He wanted to feel exposed to the elements once more. It was all he ever wanted now. He desperately begged for his skin back and his normal flesh to be bare again, not a mashed monster mess.

Gwen dropped from the window and let her feet barely touch the shingles of the roof. They balanced her fall, letting her catch her footing before sliding down a bit and catching her heel on the gutter. Then with one elegant spring, she landed down in front of her boyfriend. "Kevin?" she asked.

His dark eyes were trained on the sky once before, but now they flickered to meet her emerald green orbs and before she knew what was happening, Gwen felt herself pulled towards his chest and he was kissing her hard and passionately. She laced her arms around behind his neck as the emotions flooded between them. Forgetting the world was the way she liked it. The redhead melted into him, knowing this was exactly what she had always wanted.

Her rain pounded towards the ground, muddying it.

His lightning shattered the night-sheathed sky, crackling in the stillness.

There was always one wish that lingered on his lips, unsaid, unspoken, unknown. Kevin never told anyone his one wish. It was a simple one, really.

Just one more night out with the stars. One more night when rain was dumped in buckets from the sky. One more night with his hands pressed into the mud. One more night feeling those charges rushing through him. One more night with his father by his side.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

When Gwen told him to blow out the candles on his cupcake (or "cuppycake" as Benji had called it), Kevin made one wish. This was the first year he'd celebrated his birthday in almost five years. Not like seventeen was a big deal or anything. He just wanted to wish again. If there was ever a shooting star, he would know what he wanted. If there was any way he could find a genie in a lamp, he knew he would wish with all his heart for his father back.

"Kevin." Gwen took his hand when they were alone on her roof later that night. Seventeen was really no big deal for him. He didn't care. But on a stormy night, it was his whole life. A storm on his birthday had to be a miracle.

Strength surged through his toned muscles, his body alive with power and energy that could do nothing but flow through him, a conductor of electricity. No longer could he control that power, but he could still enjoy the static of the air. He couldn't touch the ground, not since New York's little problem. He was always worried about an overload. Tonight was no different. No matter the craving, he stayed on the roof, not touching the ground, not planning to touch any metal. He would still be a conductor. He couldn't keep that up.

"What's up with you? Tonight you've just been… off." Her voice dragged him out of his thoughts. His father was really gone. No longer would he touch electricity. No longer could he touch the lightning when he wanted to feel a rush of power that stung his system, but felt so incredible.

"Just…" He had to breathe for a second. Kevin's obsidian eyes glinted as lightning flashed across the sky. Unseen pain remained hidden from the redhead. "I just wish my dad was here with me for this kind of stuff, you know? I miss him a lot more when I think how he _should_ be here but isn't."

Her arm curled around his shoulders and Gwen's head fit perfectly in the crook of Kevin's neck. Red hair fell in a cascading waterfall over his shoulder, contrasting the black of his shirt as they were both soaked in the pouring rain.

It was love, no matter how neglected and hidden.

Lightning crashed. It could no longer connect with its dead master. It could no longer connect to its second master. Life had moved as it always had and always would.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Heat seared the night as Kevin couldn't stand it in his room any longer. He rose from the bed, the lightning outside making no sound except for its solemn streak across the sky and the accompanying thunder that followed soon after. The dark teen opened his window, moonlight flooding in through the holes and gaps between thick cumulus clouds.

Obsidian eyes stared out into that darkness that was only lit by a lone silver beam that shone through. Silence was pure and unbroken. A crushing force seemed to starve him and Kevin pulled on his blue shirt from the garage with 'Kev' embroidered into the white spot on the chest. He didn't bother to grab the white undershirt. Leaving his bare chest exposed was fine.

Slowly staggering outside, sleep still dragging down his steps, Kevin made his way out onto the path from his house, standing out there and looking directly up into the black shadows of night. His chest heaved with the effort of breathing in the muggy air. It was thick and heavy.

Rain soaked his hair. It dripped down his face, droplets falling down his cheeks like tears that weren't really there. His face was lifted to the sky, static flowing through him. He had to enjoy the bits of recharging he could still get.

His mother stared out her window, looking at her son standing in the middle of the sidewalk towards the street. His face was turned upwards. "Devin, why did you have to leave him so alone in the world?"

Kevin was never alone. The storm carried on the memories of his father as soon as he was reconnected with the vibes that could still transmit through him.

And the ground was shaken again as more thunder attacked the tranquil night.

**~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Ben just caught sight of a hulking frame standing in the open garage door of the huge building, the green car's gleaming new paint job evident with the luminescent lights that hung from the ceiling. His emerald eyes glinted as he squinted to check and see if it was Kevin or not.

Sure enough, it was. He was just staring out into the rain. His dark eyes were distracted. Immensely distracted. Behind layers of darkness, his mind was in an entirely different world.

Devin was standing beside him. It was his every thought when storms racked the cloud-covered skies. When lightning pulsed to the ground, Kevin could just imagine his father standing there and thinking how happy Devin always was. There was never any way for him to show it. Kevin was never capable of showing his joy. It was so hard to show how happy those storms could make him.

The brunette teen thought he saw Kevin's weight shift and his whole body give one massive shudder as lightning flashed across the sky, giving his friends dark form a bit of color. His shirt was drenched and clinging to his skin. His hair was sopping wet. And Ben could read Kevin's body language enough to know that the dark teen didn't give two craps how wet he got.

But that still left no reason for Kevin to stand in the rain on a cold night like this.

Ben drove away slowly, hoping to avoid Kevin's obsidian gaze. Being caught driving by the garage at night when it was Kevin's personal time was a definite no-no and a great reason to pound a certain Omnitrix wearer.

******~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

Blue lightning shot from his palm, piercing the metal flagpole. Kevin's eyes could only widen in horror.

Devlin had taken on his old powers.

Gwen didn't seem the slightest bit worried. She had no idea how uncontrollable and how dangerous that could actually be. It was dangerous. It was a high. It was a thrill. All Kevin wanted was that control back. He wanted that power to return to his fingertips and to be able to use it at his will.

The small boy stared at his hands like they were some kind of miracle. To him, it was a miracle. He wasn't burned. His skin wasn't scorched. No pain was even there. Devlin smiled up at his parents. "Momma! Daddy!" he cried with joy, throwing himself into Gwen while Kevin put one hand on the table to keep his balance.

This couldn't be happening. He'd prayed that Devlin wouldn't develop that. Prayed to the gods that he had sworn to never believe in. Now his worst nightmares were coming true.

His own cravings still existed, years later. He still shuddered in the feeling of the storm and crept out of the bed he shared with Gwen just to stand in the rain for hours and hours until she rose and found him, soaking wet and shivering. His beautiful redheaded wife would always walk him inside with gentle hands and a simple kiss. She didn't want him to be hurt by the force of electricity that surged through the ground. He couldn't feel it any longer. Kevin just enjoyed that static buzz that kept him sane.

Devlin hugged his mother's waist and his sapphire blue eyes shut as he just enjoyed the moment.

Kevin would have to teach Devlin everything now, just as Devin had taught him.

******~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~****~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~LIGHTNING~**

They sat on the porch, just outside their house. Devlin's tiny feet hung over the edge of the steps. "What are we doing outside, Daddy?" he asked softly, voice curious, but not pressing.

Kevin really hated this. He couldn't truly show Devlin anything like his own father had shown him. He just had to let his son trust him and he wasn't sure that they were at that level yet. He was hardly ever there for his son and they were never exactly close. It was kind of a touch-and-go thing for a while there, Gwen the only link keeping them together.

When his father didn't answer, Devlin looked out into the sky. There was a prickling feeling on the back of his neck as if the hairs were standing on end. It wasn't feat that was overwhelming him as he expected. It was anticipation and excitement. "Daddy?"

Snapping back into reality, Kevin looked down at the small boy that was his own. He loved Devlin even though it didn't show all the time. He had these navy blue eyes that sparkled often when he learned something new, just as Gwen's did. But he looked like Kevin in every other way. He had broad shoulders and a thin build that Kevin could tell would fill in with muscle after enough time had passed and his strength grew rapidly. There was only a moment where Kevin questioned where Devlin's personality would fall, but he instantly knew that by the way his grades were turning that his son would take a crash course in being the perfect child, brilliant and all.

"Dev, I want to show you something," said Kevin, trying to make himself sound like he knew what he was doing. Clearly, he had no idea. He didn't know how fully developed Devlin's powers would go. He could be full Osmosian. He could only be half, like his father. Or even less and one of those bolts of lightning striking the ground could possibly kill him. Ignoring those fears, Kevin stretched an arm around his son for comfort. "Put your hand in the mud."

"But that's yucky," retorted the small boy, folding his scrawny arms across his chest. Devlin's eyes reflected disgust. So maybe he had taken on a few of his father's more familiar traits, mainly stubbornness. "Why the heck would I get my hand all messy?"

"Try it." Kevin knew how much he loved the mud swallowing up his fingers like it was a small mouse in the jaws of a massive cat.

Without another question (although many were racing through his mind), Devlin reluctantly pressed his fingers into the wet soil.

"Wait for it, now," Kevin murmured, watching the sky for any signs of the first strike. "Don't pull your hand up," he warned softly, wanting his son to trust him more than anything else in the entire universe.

"Why aren't you doing it too?"

This unnerved Kevin. His head turned down to the ground, not wanting the disappointment to show in his gaze. He wanted to be able to feel this along with his son, but those powers no longer worked. It was no longer an option. He had to suck it up and deal with the cards he was given. "It… It doesn't work for me, Dev." He couldn't risk an overload.

Suddenly the sky was illuminated and Devlin's body gave a slow, quaking shudder as the charges passed through him and floated underneath his skin as if he weighted nothing at all. A sigh of content escaped his lips and his chest heaved with the effort of breathing.

"Amazing, isn't it?" asked Kevin, wishing he could've felt it too.

Only one word escaped Devlin. "Wow."

* * *

**A/N: took me all week, but I finally finished up! Phew! Really hoped you enjoyed it. I put all my efforts into this one… leave a review please! They're much appreciated!**

**~Sky**


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